JKH, Carsons to acquire Eagle

JOHN KEELLS Holdings Limited (JKH) and Carson Cumberbatch and Co. Limited (Carsons) have made a joint offer to acquire the entire 87.27% stake in Eagle owned by NDB Finance Lanka Limited (NFL). JKH and Carsons are willing to acquire a minimum stake of 15.3 million shares (amounting to 51% of Eagle).

The Offer Price is Rs. 130 and the number of shares would be up to 87.27% stake of Eagle owned by NFL, subject to a minimum acceptance of 15.3 million shares. Validity period would be 60 days from the date of offer.

Subsequent to the purchase of the NFL shares, JKH and Carsons will make a mandatory offer to all the shareholders of Eagle as required by the Takeovers and Mergers Code.

If the offer is accepted and the above transaction goes through, it is proposed that Eagle be merged with UAL at fair values based on independent valuations.

JKH and Carsons together have a 72% shareholding in UAL. If NFL chooses to divest only the minimum amount of 15.3 million shares, it would continue to own approximately 36% of Eagle and partake in the future benefits of the proposed merged Eagle/UAL entity.

The significant benefits of a merger to the shareholders of Eagle and UAL would include the increase in scale of both General and Life Gross Written Premium.

It will also enable the merged entity to have market shares of 29% in Life and 13% in General.